Background

Most of my work is focussed on foraging ecology, life history and population ecology of ungulates. I am also interested in the impact of herbivores on the ecosystems - such as plants, invertebrates and small rodents. Apart from ungulate research, I work a little bit also with effects of climate on ecological systems in general.

Higher education and employment history

Previous academic positions.

2006-present Professor, UiO

2001-2005 Researcher, UiO

1999-2001 Post doc, UiO

1999-1999 Researcher, UiO

Education:

1998 PhD, UiO

Honoraria

The article (Stenseth, Mysterud et al., see publ. list.) entitled "Ecological effects of climate fluctuations" as published in the journal "SCIENCE" on AUG 23, 2002 has been determined by ISI® to be one of the most cited recent papers in the field of ENVIRONMENT/ECOLOGY by January 2004 - “New Hot Paper”. The same paper got status as “Emerging Research Front” in August 2008.

Awarded as “Outstanding Young Investigator” (YFF) by the Research Council of Norway in 2004.

Fritjof Nansen award for young scientists 2005 (“Nansenbelønningen for yngre forskere”). Decided by the Academy of Sciences and Letters.

Obligate herbivores dominate studies of the eff ects of climate change on mammals, however there is limited empirical evidence for how changes in the abundance or quality of plant food aff ect mammalian omnivores. Omnivores can exploit a range of diff erent food resources over the course of a year, but they often rely on seasonally restricted highly nutritious fruiting bodies during critical life stages. Brown bears Ursus arctos in Sweden are dependent on berries for fattening before entering hibernation. We used a ten-year time series to evaluate the eff ect of temperature and snow on annual variation in berry abundance and how this variation aff ected bears. We found marked interannual variation in berry production of bilberry Vaccinium myrtillus and lingonberry V. vitis-idaea , that we could attribute in part to temperature during plant dormancy and flowering and precipitation during fruit ripening. Both, autumn weights of female bears and spring weights of yearling bears increased linearly with bilberry abundance. When bilberry abundance was low, lightweight female bears had a lower reproductive success than females in better condition. Th is eff ect vanished when food abundance was above average, indicating that lightweight females could compensate for their initial weight during good bilberry years. Our study highlights the importance of considering individuals ’ dynamic responses to variation in food availability, which leave some more vulnerable to food shortage than others. Individual life-history heterogeneity in response to resource variation likely aff ects long-term population recruitment. Our fi ndings emphasize that Scandinavian bears can be dependent on a single food resource during a critical period of the year and are therefore less resilient to environmental change than expected for an omnivore. Future climate scenarios predict ambiguous trends for weather covariates that aff ected crucial stages of berry phenology, preventing a clear prognosis of how climate change may aff ect long-term bilberry production.

1. Population-level management is difficult to achieve if wildlife routinely crosses administrative boundaries, as is particularly frequent for migratory populations. However, the degree of mismatch between management units and scales at which ecological processes operate has rarely been quantified. Such insight is vital for delimiting functional population units of partially migratory species common in northern forest ecosystems. 2. We combined an extensive dataset of 412 GPS-marked red deer (Cervus elaphus) across Norway with information on the size and borders of two administrative levels, the governmental level (municipality) and landowner level (local management units, LMUs), to determine the timing and scale of mismatch between animal space use and management units. We analysed how landscape characteristics affected the use of management units and the timing and likelihood of crossing borders between them, in an effort to delineate more appropriate units in various landscapes. 3. Median municipality size could potentially cover 70% of female and 62% of male annual ranges, while only 12% and 4% of LMUs were expansive enough to accommodate migratory routes in females and males, respectively. Red deer migrate along elevational gradients and are more likely to find both suitable lowland winter habitat and higher summer habitat within management units with variable topography. Consistent with this, the likelihood of border crossing decreased with increasing diversity of elevations. 4. Synthesis and applications. We demonstrate a considerable mismatch between animal space use and management units. Far-ranging movements and frequent administrative border crossings during autumn migration coincides with the period of active management (hunting season). Our study also highlights that, due to extensive movements of males, coordination of management aims may provide a more realistic avenue than increasing sizes of local management units. A more general insight is that the degree of mismatch between range use and management units depends on the season and landscape type. This needs to be accounted for when delimitating functional population units of migratory populations.

Wildlife management systems face growing challenges to cope with increasingly complex interactions between wildlife populations, the environment and human activities. In this position statement, we address the most important issues characterising current ungulate conservation and management in Europe. We present some key points arising from ecological research that may be critical for a reassessment of ungulate management in the future. Ecosystem . Population sustainability . Science-basedmanagement .Wildlifemanagement .Adaptive management